It’s been 30+ years. In that time I have
- got a minor in Spanish to go with my engineering degree,
- spent 3 months translating chemical plant commissioning and startup manuals (that was painful) then spent 7 months in Mexico on the startup of a new plant
- spent 4 months in Spain on the startup of another new plant
- got an MBA at a top school where there were many students from LatAm
- worked a management consulting gig where I was back and forth to Mexico for 9 months. (I was in Monterrey on 9/11)
- worked bus dev/project dev for a large project in Mexico for my current employer back in 05-07. We didn’t end up doing the project.
- been working our Mexico market entry for the last 5 years.
- worked post merger integration of a company we acquired in Peru.

So.. I’m near-native fluent. Many people ask where I’m from, meaning which country, because they can’t place my accent, but don’t tag me a a gringo.